Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-11-08

L
farmers OF Coleman, who have but just
passed through 3 two years drouth.
There is more money in circulation
amongst farmers here than there is
amongst the same class wherever l have
been.
Instead of the desolation 1 expected
the drouth TO have effected, find more
and better horses, sheep and cattle, than
when left here, and all in the tinest con
dition and on better range than L ever
saw before in any country. l find your
farmers short of surplus Of produce,
but possessing an abundance for their
own wants, and SO Independent that l
find them refusing to sell surplus cattle
for the highest market price, which is en-
advance of several dollars per head
ab we Whist they offered them for in the
spring of 1886, before the effect of the
drOuth was felt.
Since my return 1 have prospected
over your whole county. Never have l
seen such hay crop OF native grass,
never such natural pesturage, never such
an abundance of fall forage crops. Land
that revives and produces such crops
so rapidly after such drouth have no
equal.
Could the farmers of the drouth-sffli cted
regions of the north and northwest be-
hold your beautiful country and see
what l have seen within the last fifteen
days, they would flock to Coleman by the
thousands, and only regret that they did
not learn of this land of promise sooner.
While the three months drouth Of their
sections has driven them to force their
stock upon the market and dispose of it
at ruinous prices, you ere in condition TO
refuse to sell and hold your stock over
for better prices than you have been sell
ing for.
Without seeing 1t, no man can realize
| this county's worth. read in the pa
pers that the drouth was broken; friend
| in Winchester, Tennessee, showed me a
copy of the Voice and after reading it l
remarked: "That fellow is taking les
sons from the newspapers Of Southern
California; be cannot fool me, I have been
there " Subsequently, at Palmetto, l
saw letters from residents of Coleman
county to their friends, advising them to
come. Surely, thought, if these people
are friends. they are not deceiving their
kindred: will go and see the country
again.
l am here and tender apology for my
iocose remark l made upon your article,
and say that neither you or those persons
writing to their friends, were half as en-
tnusisstic as in truth you might have
been. And l assure you that if the at
fractions of Coleman county were gener-
ally known, year would not pass before
your waste places were ell filed by we'll
to do and Intelligent farmers who are dis
satisfied In the old southern statee.
Upon the land which I bought the sec
ond crop of hay has been moved this fell.
The rain did not set in until the LIST of
August and the first crop was moved be-
fore the 10th Of September. She second
crop is now being hauled to town where
il commands better price than millet or
any OF the cultivated hay upon the mar
ket.
I was offered this same land eighteen
months ago at 50 25 per acre. psid
So 20 for it last week, end was glad to get
il st that.
One would naturally suppose that the
effect of the drouth would be to bring
lands down, but the lands of Coleman
county have gone up, and on examination
of the assessment rolls of the county [
fiad that they have Increased II assessed
value more than $4,000 in one year,
notwithstanding the drouth. This is more
remarkable since there is no speculative
boom and the lands are not in the hands
Of spectators.
1 have no other object in writing this
letter than to give information to en-
quirers and to those, who, like myself,
are not contented with their lot in the
older states. l now own $40 acres of
land in Coleman county, none Of it is for
sale; on the contrary, I am negotiating
fnYa J, Sv,f,1
will be understood that I have 10 axe TO
grind, and no particular benefit to be de-
rived By the settIidg up of the country.
The county contains nearly 100000 acres.
Five hundred Thousand OF this is first
class agricultural land, and there are per-
haps 40, 900 in cultivation.
The remainder is nearly all for sale. A
large body of it is inclosed in pastures,
herds, substituting highly improved and
blooded stock for the native longborns
The increasing value of the land has driv-
en- them to substitute quality for qusnti-
tY and to offer their surplus acres for
sale. In some instances whole pastures
have been surveyed into small tracts 20
suit purchasers, thereby opening up the |
finest body of prairie land in the world 10 |
settlement.
The population of this vast territory is
but about 1000, and there are twenty |
seven public free schools equal to any |
rural free schools in the United States.
The town of Coleman is the terminus |
of the northwestern branch Of the great |
Santa Fe system of railroads. II has
good trade, and farming implements and
as well as all articles of mer-
chandise, can be bought here as reason
able as in Louisville, Ky.
have priced nearly everything there
and here, and there is no difference that
can see.
The population Of the town is about
1850, and there has not been death or
serious case Of illness amongst them for
nearly year.
Society throughout the country, is as
good as it is anywhere and there is q re-
msrkable absence Of every species of
crime.
Two more railroads are projected, one
coming from Fort Worth has already
been surveyed to the town. The other
crosses the state from north to south
opening up direct route to Chicago for
the annual transportation OF 100000 head
Of cattle for the northern markets.
- l. AL |